Chapter 312
Chapter 312 – Fishing Seems to Be Going Well. (1)
Claude stepped forward and asked.
“What kind of training?”
Is there even time for more training when there’s so much work to do? Until now, the lord had trained alone. The only time he had trained with someone else was during his duels with Gillian.
Ghislaine spoke as if it were no big deal.
“Just keep doing what you’re doing. Have the knights ambush me. I won’t counterattack, nor will I hold anyone accountable for their attacks. Just keep the mana to a minimum or don’t use it at all. Of course, I won’t use it either.”
He’s saying crazy stuff again. Among the blinking people, Belinda asked.
“Young Master? What kind of training are you planning to do?”
“Hmm, it’s part of the training I was doing before. To put it simply, I’m trying to improve my body’s defenses while being attacked.”
“…You know that’s usually a recipe for disaster, right? You’re skilled enough to understand that.”
“It’s fine. You know my recovery ability, right? I’m just going to increase the intensity a bit.”
“Please don’t. It could be dangerous to be attacked without using mana properly.”
Once you reach a level where you can use mana, your body naturally becomes stronger without even consciously wrapping it with mana. The body starts to retain mana little by little.
Thus, without having to draw mana consciously, your senses sharpen, and your physical abilities improve.
If it’s someone at Ghislaine’s level, she would have accumulated more mana in her entire body than most knights.
But there’s a limit to that. Human skin is weaker than one might think. Without properly managing mana, it’s impossible to defend against steel weapons.
Despite Belinda’s objections, Ghislaine shook her head.
“No, I really need this right now. It won’t take long. Just a few days.”
“Why on earth are you doing this?”
“Just a bit more and I feel like my senses will improve a level.”
Ghislaine’s training was currently at half success. With just a bit more, she might be able to physically block a Mana attack from a novice knight.
However, the training to let her body automatically respond to attacks by being poked had plateaued at some point.
That’s because she already knew where she would be poked before the attack even began in her mind. She had reached a level where just thinking about a poke would cause mana to gather at that spot.
‘This won’t do. Knowing and reacting is meaningless.’
The ultimate goal was to reflexively block and counterattack even when surprised by sudden attacks.
She thought of asking the dwarves to make a device, but that would also inevitably set a pattern, which wouldn’t meet Ghislaine’s goal. After all, the best training is real battle, and if that’s difficult, at least it should be similar to a real battle.
Belinda clicked her tongue at Ghislaine’s outrageous training method.
“Can you please take care of yourself? What knight would dare attack you here?”
Ghislaine is the lord of this territory. Who would confidently attack someone like that?
“I think there are quite a few.”
At Ghislaine’s words, Claude nodded. Still, Belinda protested.
“No way! I won’t allow that! If you get even a scratch on your body, I won’t let it slide. Got it?”
Under her stern warning, Ghislaine playfully replied.
“Why don’t you try it too? I’ll buy you ‘Sharanel.’ All you have to do is hurt me.”
“Young Master! Don’t play such dangerous games!”
Swish!
Papapapapak!
Dozens of daggers erupted from various places on Belinda’s body.
Ghislaine was startled and immediately summoned her mana. The pressure was too strong for her to not use mana.
Tatata-tang!
She deflected a few with her hand and dodged some by pulling her body back.
Once all the daggers had fallen, Ghislaine looked at Belinda in disbelief.
She slightly turned her head and muttered.
“I just… got a bit angry for not listening, so I thought I’d end this quickly… I didn’t really want anything… Ah, that blocks it.”
“…”
Coincidentally, it was Belinda who started the attack first. At that point, no one else opposed her.
Clearing her throat, Ghislaine said to Gillian.
“If everyone just rushes at me, I don’t think the training will work, so let’s have a separate recruitment for daily ambushers during training. Let them know that if they injure me properly, I’ll reward them with gold coins.”
“…Understood.”
Gillian contemplated whether he should try to stop it but ended up just sighing. After all, it was obvious that she would push through regardless.
Thus, training for ambushing the lord began. Initially hesitant, the knights soon found enjoyment in attacking Ghislaine.
Ghislaine really didn’t counterattack. She only dodged attacks that seemed dangerous and absorbed shallow ones with her body.
While doing her best to minimize mana use, of course.
So even for Ghislaine, it wasn’t long before she got injured. Anyone who managed to wound her would receive a reward.
Gold coins dropped every time someone hit her? Who would pass up a walking treasure chest?
“I got it! My gold coins!”
“I’ll take it today!”
“This is our chance to hit the lord!”
While some knights mixed a bit of personal feelings into their attacks regardless of the reward, they put their heart into attacking Ghislaine.
Since they couldn’t follow her around all day to fight, they could only attack once a day.
With the limit on attacks in place, the tactics for ambushing started to become more clever. Without anyone instructing them, they began to act like assassins.
They would figure out Ghislaine’s route in advance and hide to wait for her or ambush her in the middle of her tasks.
“Wow, so this is the effect it has.”
Ghislaine smiled delightfully at the unexpected side effect. As everyone sincerely worked on concealment and cover, their skills were improving quite a bit.
Thanks to mutual discussions and sharing advice, they managed to brainstorm effectively.
This situation was exactly what Ghislaine had hoped for. She was training to block attacks that she was not consciously aware of.
‘I need to dull my senses even more.’
The problem was that Ghislaine’s senses were way too sharp. Due to the skill difference, she could sense where the hidden opponents were, which somewhat diminished the usefulness of the ambush.
She found that she had no choice but to figure out ways to make herself less aware and allow the attacks to come.
Whoosh!
Suddenly appearing, Gordon slashed Ghislaine’s arm and laughed.
“Hehehe, I’ve improved quite a bit, haven’t I?”
“Hmm, you’ve gotten pretty decent.”
“Since you’ve injured me, you owe me money.”
“Sure, give it a bit more effort.”
‘Hehe, I did it!’
She had clearly said to suppress mana as much as possible, but everyone was subtly using mana because they wanted the coins.
Strangely, it seemed that as the days went by, she wasn’t getting injured as often.
Ghislaine thought that it was a blessing in disguise. As the amount of mana the opponent gradually increased, her body was falling behind in keeping up.
It was indeed no easy task. If she was cut too quickly, the gathered mana wouldn’t be enough to block before the injury could occur.
‘Her body needs to react faster.’
When her senses were activated and she was conscious, there was no problem. She could evade before the attack reached her and could use mana to block.
However, in a dulled state, even if she sensed an attack coming and mana gathered, there was a limit. If the attack exceeded a certain level, she couldn’t block it properly.
‘Hmm… I might need to raise the intensity a bit.’
Her body had to sense danger for survival and adapt. After she began receiving actual attacks from the knights, the effects of her training were starting to show.
Every day, Ghislaine wandered around the castle, lost in her same thoughts. Then one day, someone blocked her path as she was walking as usual.
“Why?”
The one who blocked her was Ascon. He had a very smug expression on his face when he spoke.
“Can I also have a go at attacking?”
“Huh? Don’t you not know how to use mana?”
Now, even a regular attack wouldn’t easily injure Ghislaine. No matter how consciously she suppressed mana, a blade without it would only slightly graze her outer skin.
That wouldn’t give her any sense of danger nor would it provoke a proper reaction.
But Ascon seemed determined to try.
“There’s no reason to only give knights a chance. I want to have a go too.”
“Fine, go ahead then.”
“You’re allowing it?”
“Yup.”
“Then I’ll use a mental attack!”
“……?”
Before Ghislaine could say anything, Ascon’s mouth opened.
“Hey, you XXX! Because of you, I almost starved to death at this age, eating only dirt and dust! XXX, you filthy XX piece of trash!…”
“……”
The foul language poured out endlessly. It sounded like he was also feeling a bit emotional.
Ghislaine, smiling in disbelief, saw Belinda rush in with a face like an evil spirit after hearing the commotion.
Ascon was immediately dragged off to the prison by the soldiers for his words “Shivari.”
As if nothing had happened, Ghislaine’s training continued.
Seeing that the speed was slowing down a bit, Ghislaine decided to increase the allowed number of participants for ambushing and the limit on attempts. She relaxed the mana restrictions even further.
From that point on, the knights became even bolder in attacking Ghislaine.
Ghislaine now willingly took on the more dangerous attacks. There were times she got seriously hurt and had to be carried away, and other times she almost lost an entire arm.
“Please, Young Master! Can we stop this?”
“My Lord, things are getting increasingly dangerous.”
“This is more like abuse than training.”
Belinda and the retainers all began to protest. His body had long been covered in injuries, and as the number of wounds increased, the speed of recovery began to slow down.
Yet, Ghislaine remained unmoved.
“No, my senses are getting sharper.”
The body doesn’t lie. The change had begun when she got stabbed through the heart.
Without her conscious awareness, her body maintained a tense state, and with every attack, the speed at which mana gathered in that area increased little by little.
Her senses became indescribably sharp. Even though she deliberately suppressed them, they had become much more attuned than before.
Additionally, unforeseen effects that Ghislaine hadn’t anticipated began to manifest.
‘This is…’
Every day she was injured and attacked. After brushing against the brink of death several times, her body began to find a new way to survive.
There was a limit to how fast mana could move from the core. Beyond a certain point, the speed wouldn’t increase.
Thus, her body naturally tried to circulate mana throughout itself little by little.
Even without Ghislaine’s awareness, it had a similar effect to activating a Stage 1 core throughout the entire body.
‘Wow, I didn’t think this would work.’
This was the technique Ghislaine had long ago conceptualized and even tried out before.
If mana was continuously activated throughout the body, it would gradually get depleted. To replenish the drained mana properly, you would need to meditate or get enough rest.
Someone like Ghislaine might be able to recover a bit just from breathing, but eventually, she would use up all her mana.
There was also the issue that she had to consciously keep using mana.
‘That’s why I wanted to speed up my reaction time.’
Now, mana was moving on its own to protect her body.
In fact, it was also slowly replenishing the mana being depleted. Just like breathing through all her body’s skin and respiratory organs.
Although the amount was incredibly small compared to when she practiced mana meditation, she was still absorbing the surrounding mana automatically.
Facing death every day allowed for an astonishing evolution of the human body.
‘I need to refine the mana meditation method a bit more.’
She could sense how the mana was moving within her body. If she used this, she could improve her mana meditation method one more time.
‘Maybe… I could increase the cores beyond what I had in my past life.’
In her previous life, the limit was creating five cores. The more cores there were, the more strain on the body, and it would be problematic as mana got depleted rapidly.
But even with just five cores, Ghislaine had risen to one of the top positions in the continent. It had become difficult to find her match in the realm.
If she could utilize this newfound realization and develop it further, it seemed possible to achieve even greater heights.
“Sounds great.”
Ghislaine smiled happily. The training that began with a moment of inspiration had provided her with a clue for her future.
As the Stage 1 core began to activate automatically without her conscious thought, her body started getting accustomed to that state.
And the effects were astounding.
“I’ve come again today!”
Ten knights suddenly appeared and swung their swords toward Ghislaine from all directions.
All of their swords were enveloped in a faint blue light.
Attacks that could only be classified as those of novice knights.
Up until now, even such attacks could injure Ghislaine due to her self-imposed suppression of mana.
So this time as well, Ghislaine didn’t draw mana. She merely received the attacks with her body as usual.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
“…?”
The knights who successfully landed their strikes wore puzzled expressions.
Why did it sound like they were hitting steel despite having sliced through flesh?
Once they checked the situation, the knights exclaimed in shock.
“What, what is this!”
“How did this happen?”
“Did you use mana? You said you wouldn’t use any mana!”
Ghislaine’s body was untouched. Her clothes were torn, but there wasn’t even a small scratch on her skin.
Upon hearing their exclamations, Ghislaine finally looked over her body and nodded.
“Huh, this should be enough for now.”
Without consciously using mana, she had entered a state where she was always using the Stage 1 core. Hence, the knights’ attacks had simply bounced off.
Of course, the knights weren’t putting in their full strength either. They were only using beginner-level attacks. If they had truly unleashed their power, they could have dealt significant damage.
“From today, we’ll conclude the lord ambush training.”
There was no longer any need to train on being ambushed. Although still weak, a new foundation had been established.
What remained was to develop and strengthen that foundation further. The goal was to activate Stage 2 and Stage 3 cores and aim for even higher realms.
At the announcement of the ambush being concluded, the knights wore slightly disappointed expressions.
‘Ah, those extra coins were really nice.’
‘Just a little bit more would have been great.’
‘The thrill of hitting the lord was fun too.’
The strongest feeling was the disappointment of losing their fun activity, but it wasn’t just that. As they watched Ghislaine, who was lazily leaving, they all shared the same thought.
‘She’s slowly becoming a monster.’
What they thought was mad training turned out to be effective. The knights who were considering giving it a try soon shook their heads.
Such crazy feats were only possible for the lord.
*
Development of the territory was progressing smoothly. Sure, there was a lot of work, but when has there ever been a time when Penris didn’t have work?
Everyone was familiar with the tasks they had done repeatedly, so there were no issues in the progress.
They demolished the old residences, integrated the villages, and reinforced the fortress. They were finding ways to use Desmond’s rich resources more efficiently.
Road construction was also underway here. As roads were built, the transport of resources became quicker, making the pace of development in the territory incomparable to before.
Of course, that didn’t mean there were no problems.
Claude was racking his brain while looking at the mountain of documents piled up.
“Hmm… We still don’t have enough administrators.”
He had killed all the retainers of Desmond.
While he was carefully selecting somewhat competent people from the lower officials through thorough questioning and investigation, the territory was so large and the work so plentiful that there was no way to avoid a manpower shortage.
“Ha, where am I going to find more people to entice?”
It seemed the rumors about him had circulated throughout the Seiron Academy, making it difficult to bring people from there again. He would eventually need to recruit people from elsewhere.
“I can’t increase tasks any more for now.”
Even now, being overworked, one person was doing the work of nearly ten. If the workload increased further, it would be dire.
The lord was also focusing only on training, wondering if there were no new matters at the fortress. It seemed best to concentrate on training and developing the soldiers like this.
One day, when Claude had finally eased his mind, Ghislaine burst through the door and declared.
“I’m starting new work now.”
“……”
“I’m establishing the Penris Magic Laboratory and creating a magic battalion.”
Claude’s face twisted in shock.
